4 week old kitten care?

ShaShaBear

My sister is heading to pick up a foster kitten today - he/she is 4 weeks old and according to the volunteers is drinking the formula milk from a saucer rather than tube/bottle. I've fostered kittens before, but they were all with mother, so I'm not familiar with feeding schedules. Should a kitten still be fed through the night at 4ish weeks? Or just 3-4 times per day? Also, what age would you all recommend weaning to solids and for how much longer will she need to be helping kitty go to the toilet?

mymo

At 4wks toile ting should be ok, but will need monitoring, Litter tray needs low sides, place kitten in tray after each feed, and when it wakes. They can be messy at the start, so lots of kitchen towel and warm water may be needed.
The rescue should give a feeding schedule, at 4wks I would imagine every 4 hours or so, depends how hungry the kitten is, another week and it's time to intro some solids, I highly recommend royal canin kitten mousse, it's hard to find this time of year, but they love it and it's easy on tummy, rc baby cat is also good from about 7wks or so.

At 4 weeks she may be ok to go overnight without a feed, I mean the bare 7 hrs ish from bedtime to wake up.

ShaShaBear

mymo wrote: »

At 4wks toile ting should be ok, but will need monitoring, Litter tray needs low sides, place kitten in tray after each feed, and when it wakes. They can be messy at the start, so lots of kitchen towel and warm water may be needed.
The rescue should give a feeding schedule, at 4wks I would imagine every 4 hours or so, depends how hungry the kitten is, another week and it's time to intro some solids, I highly recommend royal canin kitten mousse, it's hard to find this time of year, but they love it and it's easy on tummy, rc baby cat is also good from about 7wks or so.

At 4 weeks she may be ok to go overnight without a feed, I mean the bare 7 hrs ish from bedtime to wake up.

Ah that's alright, volunteer said she needed help going to the toilet and I wasn't sure if they meant in the litter tray or with the cloth on the bum!
Thanks for the information. She's super excited to be fostering. I've been doing it for years and she doesn't want a permanent pet but her and my mum have been considering fostering for ages and I figured a small kitten that can't go outside would be a safe place to start!

mymo

Check with the rescue what they mean, just to be sure, some can still need a little help, not had any needing help toileting at that age, more the clean up.

its a great place to start alright, and it's hard to rehome them when you've had them from so young.
I found my first kitten of the season early hours of this morning in the middle of nowhere, it's clearly been handled and is just about 6 weeks. I've had kittens found in that area before, I suspect it's a dumping area

ShaShaBear

mymo wrote: »

Check with the rescue what they mean, just to be sure, some can still need a little help, not had any needing help toileting at that age, more the clean up.

its a great place to start alright, and it's hard to rehome them when you've had them from so young.
I found my first kitten of the season early hours of this morning in the middle of nowhere, it's clearly been handled and is just about 6 weeks. I've had kittens found in that area before, I suspect it's a dumping area

I can never understand that. Apart from the obvious, kittens are even easier to rehome than puppies to good families because small house/apartment dwellers can only have cats!

Nody

ShaShaBear wrote: »

I can never understand that. Apart from the obvious, kittens are even easier to rehome than puppies to good families because small house/apartment dwellers can only have cats!

Because you want to keep them (and the problem with getting them neutered if going before neutered) :P

ShaShaBear

Well we got him home and settled. He definitely hasn't suffered from his dumping, but by the looks of it, someone tried to dock his tail? They had to cut a band off it and the end is dying (he's on antibiotics and ointment for it).
Why on earth would anyone try to dock a tail, and especially a cat's???

He's extremely inquisitive, starting to munch on wet kitten food (supplied) and is toileting on his own (but needs help to be cleaned up afterwards).

What a little dote!